1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a surgical implant for treating obesity in a patient. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a surgical implant for constricting the stomach in a patient to treat obesity of a patient.
2. Background of Related Art
A variety of different approaches are known for the treatment of obesity in a patient. These approaches can be of the non-surgical variety, e.g., dieting and exercise, or of the surgical variety, e.g., gastric bypass, bilo-pancreatic diversion etc. Where non-invasive non-surgical procedures such as dieting rely on the will power of the patient and may not be effective, invasive surgical procedures such as bypass surgery can be risky and have undesirable side effects.
As such, less invasive surgical devices for constricting or reducing the capacity of the digestive tract, e.g., the stomach, have been developed. These devices include gastric bands which are positioned about the stomach to constrict the stomach. They may also include devices such as inflatable balloons for reducing the reservoir capacity of the stomach. Each of these types of devices produces a sense of satiety in a patient to reduce the patient's desire to ingest food.
Implantation of many of these surgical devices requires access to the exterior of the stomach to secure the device thereabout or therein. Access to the exterior of the stomach may be gained either internally through the stomach wall or externally through the skin and into the abdominal cavity. Accessing the stomach in either of these manners increases the likelihood of infection and other complications both during the procedure and while recovering.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a gastric restrictor assembly that may be implanted without having to access the exterior of the stomach.